Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Today in journalism history

Just to help put matters into perspective, here's how the Nation's Newspaper of Record covered political violence in the Fractious Near East on this day in 1947.It's worth noting, among other things, how little is new in the world: the terrorists employ up-to-date communication technology ("a typewritten communique ... saying 'We did it'") and describe their motive: on the eve of "conferences on the future of Palestine," they promise to "'destroy these evil intentions' of Britain toward Palestine."And this, toward the end of the dispatch:At the Rafia detention camp twenty of about 800 Jewish detainees were told they had been sentenced administratively to another year of detention. None has been brought to trial. Twenty-nine others were released yesterday.Is there a particular reason occupying powers think they're going to win hearts and minds by telling prisoners, in effect, that we tossed a coin and you're sticking around another year?If this really was 1947, I'd read about the presidential address in the World's Greatest Newspaper. At least we still have the Fair 'n' Balanced Network to keep fear at the proper boil.